"I'm not telling him what to do": Kevin Durant gets 100% real about his stance on Mike Budenholzer amid heated in-game exchange

Over the past few weeks, Kevin Durant has been involved in two heated exchanges with Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer. Earlier in the month, Durant and Budenholzer were involved in a heated on-court exchange during the Suns-Clippers game. While the star player downplayed the exchange during his postgame press conference, the two went at it again over the weekend.

This time, during the first quarter of the Suns' showdown with the Lakers, the two appeared to go at it during a timeout. Ahead of Phoenix's upcoming game against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, Durant spoke with members of the press during a pregame scrum.

During the exchange, he opened up on the in-game conversations with Budenholzer that have caught the attention of fans, explaining the nature of the player-coach relationship.

"I don't say, 'Coach, we gotta do this.' It's his team, you know what I'm saying? I'm there to be of assistance, so if he needs me to do anything, if I got some suggestions on what may happen, I'm coming to him and asking him. I'm not telling him what to do. ...

"I've been in the league for a long time and if I see something, coach has given me the leeway to come to him if I see something out there that may be different. I think everybody on the team has that type of confidence to go to coach with that stuff."

Kevin Durant's comments, of course, come on the heels of reports suggesting that the Suns may part ways with Budenholzer this summer to keep the Durant-Devin Booker duo happy.

"He's always pushing us to be better," - Mike Budenholzer shares his side of what appeared to be a tense exchange with Kevin Durant

While members of the NBA community were analyzing their thoughts on the Kevin Durant-Mike Budenholzer exchanges from the Suns-Clippers game earlier in the month, and the Suns-Lakers game this weekend, Durant and Budenholzer have continued to downplay the exchange.

As previously mentioned, Durant downplayed the heated on-court exchange he and Budenholzer had during the Suns-Clippers game. Following the Suns-Lakers game on Sunday, Budenholzer downplayed the latest exchange while speaking with members of the press.

"He's (Kevin Durant) always pushing us to win. He's always pushing us to be better. ... I think it's pretty normal stuff, but we have to figure it out, we have to be better."

The team is currently sitting in 11th place in the Western Conference, one game behind the tenth-place Dallas Mavericks. With just 13 games left in the season, the team will have to get on the same page if they have any hope of making a postseason run.

Of course, before that, they'll have to overtake the Mavericks and clinch a spot in the play-in tournament.